Martina McBride

A good sign of fame in the music industry is the ability to last long enough to release a greatest hits compilation. An even better sign of fame is when that collection goes platinum; Martina's Greatest Hits record was certified triple platinum. As a musician Martina has been blessed with a long career and outstanding success, thanks to songs like "Wild Angels," "Wrong Again" and "My Baby Loves Me."

Appeal

The type of sexiness that Martina McBride carries with her on stage is more subtle and subdued than that of some of her peers. She is the type of girl you would be proud to bring home to mom and dad, but at the same time, she has a spark of attitude that prevents her from being tagged a goody-two shoes.

Success

2002 marks Martina's tenth year as a prominent recording artist. In the past decade she has consistently been producing top ten albums and singles that almost always garner platinum status.

Aside from Trisha Yearwood, Shania Twain and Faith Hill, it's hard to think of a female country singer who has been more successful than McBride. Also, with 1999's Country Music Association award for Female Vocalist of the Year on her mantle, it's hard to deny that this is a woman who has seen more than her share of success.

Martina McBride Biography

Née Martina Mariea Schiff, the future Mrs. McBride was born July 29th, 1966, in the small town of Medicine Lodge, Kansas (population 200). As the third of four children, young Martina looked for ways to express herself and grab the attention of her busy parents.

She gravitated toward music, partly because of an innate ability to sing and partly because she knew it would get the attention of her father, who fronted a local band called, The Schiffters. In fact, she did such a good job of catching her father's eye that he put her to work at age seven singing a few songs with the band.

schiffting gears

Her role gradually increased each year, and by the time she reached high school, she was an accomplished keyboard player and was singing on almost every song the band performed. Martina loved the time in front of the audience, but never believed it would become a full-time career when she left for college.

As it turns out, you can take the girl out of the music but you can't take the music out of the girl, and Martina barely lasted one year at college before she returned home to take up music full time. Needless to say, Medicine Lodge isn't exactly the type of place to launch a superstar and Martina began her journey toward stardom by moving to Hutchinson, Kansas to front a new band.

After Hutchinson, Martina moved to the brighter lights of Wichita, where she began to gain some local recognition on the music scene. She kept jumping from band to band and longed for some stability, which would only really come if she formed her own group. In early 1987, she had assembled a group of musicians and was looking for rehearsal space. Ultimately she ended up renting a little space owned by studio engineer John McBride, who became her fiancé four months later.

next stop, nashville

With John's production talent and Martina's amazing vocal ability, the two felt as though they had a real chance of turning some heads in the music industry. So in 1990, they did what every aspiring country musician does: pack up and move to Nashville.

As an established and talented producer, John quickly found work as the main soundboard mixer for Garth Brooks' live show. Martina, desperate to stay with her husband, got a job selling T-shirts at each concert venue. Though this wasn't exactly a dream situation for the couple, they were making valuable contacts in the industry and getting an up-close look at how it operated.

Spending every night watching Garth Brooks amaze audience only strengthened Martina and John's resolve to become country music superstars. They needed that willpower to overcome the almost daily dose of rejection from record labels. But out of that frustration, John came up with a brilliant idea. Knowing that it was almost impossible to get labels to listen to unsolicited material, he put together a package of demo tapes, articles and photographs, and stuffed it all in a big purple envelope marked "Requested Material."

Though this is a fairly age-old trick in the industry, it somehow worked and within a week, RCA asked for a meeting with young Martina. She had them as soon as she walked through the door and by 1992, she released her debut album, The Time Has Come. In an interesting twist of fate, Martina played her first gig as an RCA recording artist as the opening act for Garth Brooks. In less than a year, she had gone from T-shirt vendor to opening act, and it really was only the beginning.

her time has come

Since releasing her debut album, Martina has been steadily touring and growing in stature as one of country music's biggest stars. In 1999, the same year that Emotion was released, she received official confirmation of that status when she won the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year. It was a tremendous honor for Martina, who could finally count herself among the elite of female country musicians.

With one gold and three platinum CDs, as well as a Greatest Hits collection that has been certified Triple Platinum, Martina is on her way to becoming a country music legend. And if that doesn't work out, she can always go back to selling T-shirts.